{"product_id":"on-close-reading-9780226837437","title":"On Close Reading","description":"\u003cb\u003eJohn Guillory considers close reading within the larger history of reading and writing as cultural techniques.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e At a time of debate about the future of \"English\" as a discipline and the fundamental methods of literary study, few terms appear more frequently than \"close reading,\" now widely regarded as the core practice of literary study. But what exactly is close reading, and where did it come from? Here John Guillory, author of the acclaimed \u003ci\u003eProfessing Criticism\u003c\/i\u003e, takes up two puzzles. First, why did the New Critics--who supposedly made close reading central to literary study--so seldom use the term? And second, why have scholars not been better able to define close reading? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e For Guillory, these puzzles are intertwined. The literary critics of the interwar period, he argues, weren't aiming to devise a method of reading at all. These critics were most urgently concerned with establishing the judgment of literature on more rigorous grounds than previously obtained in criticism. Guillory understands close reading as a technique, a particular kind of methodical procedure that can be described but not prescribed, and that is transmitted largely by demonstration and imitation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Guillory's short book will be essential reading for all college teachers of literature. An annotated bibliography, curated by Scott Newstok, provides a guide to key documents in the history of close reading along with valuable suggestions for further research.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Guillory\u003c\/b\u003e is the Julius Silver Professor of English at New York University. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eCultural Capital: The Problem of Literary Canon Formation\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eProfessing Criticism: Essays on the Organization of Literary Study\u003c\/i\u003e, both also published by the University of Chicago Press. \u003cb\u003eScott Newstok\u003c\/b\u003e is professor of English and executive director of the Spence Wilson Center for Interdisciplinary Humanities at Rhodes College. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eHow to Think like Shakespeare\u003c\/i\u003e and the editor of several books, including the forthcoming \u003ci\u003eHow to Teach Children\u003c\/i\u003e, a volume of Montaigne's essays on education. His closereadingarchive.org documents what scholars have written about close reading from the prehistory of modern literary studies to the present.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50901255684370,"sku":"9780226837437","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_fb63a481-e267-4e06-9485-1dd3d58597ca.jpg?v=1738418814","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/on-close-reading-9780226837437","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}